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Annerisms can commonly occur anywhere in the base of my brain. When the size of an Annerism increases in my mind, there is a significant risk of rupture, resulting in a post of sorts, or other complications but definitely not death. Annerisms are my take on life and the world at large, or the world at small, which would be what's taking place in my immediate environment. Note that none of my Annerisms are caused by disease.

OARING IS NEVER BORING

Let me just start off by suggesting that you stop taking life so seriously. Be aware that thoughts will change and shift just like the wind and the water when you're in a boat, thoughts are no different than anything else. Okay, so that's the premise I'm sailing on this morning.

Are you ready?

This past weekend was one of the best weekends I've had in a long time. The reason for its high ranking is based primarily on simplicity. I didn't do anything extravagant. In fact, I was barred from extravagance because I pulled something in my lower back as well as contracting poison ivy when I was in Flagstaff. Both have limited my physical movement. I'm not one to share injuries because I view physical injuries as a type of weakness. (Don't read too much into that!) But I share it with you here because it is part of my lesson. I absolutely had to slow down. And when you're not at your best physically, something happens internally that allows your lens to widen and you are somehow able to take more of the view in.

Row, row, row your boat down the stream. You remember that refrain from childhood? Well, in order to row your boat, you must have oars. I mean, if you want to have any say in what direction you're going, which most of us do. And, the oars to me, are my daily practices of prayer, meditation, inquiry work, and getting out to nature.

The stream of life I am in at this particular juncture is taking my breath away. I use my oars more than ever before. I've not only been able to get further down stream because of my practice of questioning my thoughts, but I have even been able to change streams.

I realized yesterday as I was having lunch with friends that I was making a life. I was being very intentional about it, too. I was asking questions and really listening. I was trusting the moment to be whatever it needed to be. I was trusting the other women I was with to be whoever they needed to be. And, to my own surprise, my heart completely opened. I listened and really heard and that hearing changed me at some level.

Transitions and change are part of life. It's what we do with them and ourselves in the midst of them that indicates whether we are building or deconstructing our life. Nancy has a very special friend in her life that has essentially grown up with her. Nancy and Kelly have been in one another's life for thirty years. They have history and they have some amazing and funny stories. I was lucky enough to sit for several hours and listen to some of them. I felt as if I was being enlightened. I got to hear about the younger Nancy and when you love someone like I love Nancy, that stuff is like Rocky Road ice cream. (Seems like you can never get enough!)

I'm sailing today. I'm making a life, even when it doesn't seem like it. There's no particular shore I am trying to get to. In Zen, they say that the shore is right here under our feet. What we're looking for - the meaning of life, happiness, peace - is right here. So the question isn't how do I get from here to there? It is, How do I get from here to here? This is it, this is the other shore. You are where you are supposed to be. Why? Because that's where you are. Simple as that. Truly. Really.

Whatever your daily practices are, use them. And, if you don't have any, GET SOME. They are your oars to navigate the rivers of your life.

Special thanks to Nancy and Kelly for an afternoon of enlightenment. I woke up this morning and removed "shit sandwich" from all my life menus.

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I’m a full time mother with two full time children who teach me a mess of lessons on any given day. I spend as much of my free time trying to figure out how to love people well and to live-out the red letters of Jesus, both online in this global community and in my communities in both Phoenix and Flagstaff, AZ.
I enjoy hiking, exploring with my children, hard work every now and then, listening to my partner tell me stories from her childhood, reading, writing and eating well-prepared food.
Thanks for stopping by, and for reading the musings of a flawed, passionate, work in progress.